Actor Choi Bool-am’s recollection that he answered a call from the Blue House in 1974 has been mentioned again.
The caller was the late First Lady Yuk Young-soo, and the conversation turned to smoking scenes in the drama *Chief Detective*.
Alongside the debate over historical interpretations surrounding the film *Assassins*, it is necessary to distinguish an individual’s broadcast recollection from the film’s premise.
3-Line Summary
1. Choi Bool-am’s recollection of a 1974 phone call has been revisited.
2. First Lady Yuk Young-soo asked him to reduce the number of cigarettes to two.
3. The recollection and the film’s historical interpretation should be distinguished.
The “This Is Yuk Young-soo” Phone Call Revealed on a 2024 Broadcast
Choi Bool-am recalled an incident from the time *Chief Detective* was airing on the MBC program *The Return of the Legend: Chief Detective Part 1—The Chief’s Gathering*, broadcast on April 7, 2024. According to his account, on a Sunday in 1974, he picked up the receiver after his wife told him it was a call from the Blue House’s auxiliary office.
Choi Bool-am said that he heard laughter while waiting, and then the caller introduced herself as First Lady Yuk Young-soo. He recalled that he “jumped to his feet” at the unexpected call. What recent reports drew attention to was not a newly confirmed call record, but this recollection he had shared on the broadcast.
The Conversation Centered on a Smoking Scene in *Chief Detective*
In Choi Bool-am’s recollection, First Lady Yuk Young-soo asked how many cigarettes he smoked in the drama. Choi Bool-am replied, “I smoke four,” and said that First Lady Yuk Young-soo asked him to reduce it to two.
Regarding the reason, Choi Bool-am explained that he had heard former President Park Chung-hee watched *Chief Detective* and smoked cigarettes while imitating his smoking scenes, or words to that effect. He recalled also hearing former President Park Chung-hee’s voice during the call. Choi Bool-am said that, at the time, cigarettes in the drama’s smoking scenes were part of his acting for expressing emotion.
This passage is not a story that encourages or glamorizes smoking from today’s perspective, but a memory Choi Bool-am brought up while explaining the drama-production environment of the 1970s and his own acting approach. The details of the call should be read as a personal recollection disclosed by Choi Bool-am.
A Past Broadcast Scene Brought Back by the Film Debate
The film *Assassins* lies behind the renewed spread of this anecdote. Based on the shooting of First Lady Yuk Young-soo that occurred on August 15, 1974, the work follows a story tracing the people behind the incident. Criticism and debate have continued over the work’s historical interpretations and premises.
The production team stated that it is a dramatic film incorporating cinematic fiction and imagination, and that it did not intend to newly establish a specific historical conclusion or identify a particular person as being behind the incident. This is the production team’s explanation and does not mean that the hypothesis in the film has been established as historical fact.
Choi Bool-am’s recollection of the call is closer to a case in which a scene remembered by an actor from a highly popular drama at the time was brought back into discussion than to source material for determining the truth of the incident addressed by the film. The key point of this renewed attention is that the film’s narrative, the production team’s position, and the recollection left by the actor are different types of content.
References
Tags #ChoiBoolam #ChiefDetective #YukYoungsoo #BlueHousePhoneCall #Assassins #MBC #TheReturnOfTheLegendChiefDetective #ParkChunghee #KoreanDrama #FilmControversy #HistoricalFilm #ChoiBoolamAnecdote